BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Let the state of Alabama be the first to
congratulate the commonwealth of Kentucky for being the best at the sport you
love most.

Again.

Feels good, doesn't it?

We know you're giddy, celebrating your two straight national basketball championships, and you deserve to be. Deep down in places you don't talk about at tailgate parties, you know you didn't invent your sport, but you think you've come as close as possible to perfecting it, and right now, you're as good as it gets.

First, John Calipari and Kentucky in 2012.

Now, Rick Pitino and Louisville in 2013.

Next year, the torch may be passed again without crossing the border. Flip a coin, given who's coming to Lexington and depending on who's leaving Louisville. Early odds might favor the commonwealth against the field in the quest for a three-peat.

Been there, done that, and we salute you.

Now, not to rain on your victory parades or anything, but we'd like to point out a little something for the record.

The commonwealth of Kentucky is not the basketball equivalent of the state of Alabama in football.

Not quite, not yet and probably not ever.

This is more than a numbers game you can't win, although on that score at the moment, the national championship count stands Us 17, You 11.

That's 15 for Alabama and two for Auburn - officially; the Tigers could claim a bunch more - compared to eight for Kentucky and three for Louisville.

I know, I know. For the longest time, multiple teams could win a football title in a single season. They were decided by popularity contests, not playoffs, and the BCS is still a matter of opinion to some degree in terms of who gets to play in the championship game.

We get that, but the rules have been the same for everyone, and no one else has dominated this way. Currently, you're halfway to our current streak of four straight national championships.

Good luck with that.

How many states have produced consecutive national championships in basketball from more than one school since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939?

Three. Kentucky's on its first back-to-back streak right now. Ohio went back-to-back-to-back with Ohio State in 1960 and Cincinnati in 1961 and 1962. North Carolina went back-to-back with UNC in 1982 and N.C. State in 1983 and again with UNC in 2009 and Duke in 2010.

North Carolina also won three in a row with Duke in 1991 and 1992 and the Tar Heels in 1993.

UCLA won seven straight NCAA basketball titles all by itself from 1967-73, but no state has celebrated as many as four in a row in that sport with more than one school cutting down the final nets.

Football's produced even fewer back-to-back national champions from different schools in the same state since the AP poll started in 1936. Using the AP champion and the BCS winner, only two states have accomplished that feat.

TCU in 1938 and Texas A&M in 1939 won the AP title. Alabama (2009, 2011, 2012) and Auburn (2010) are looking for a fifth straight crystal football.

Kinda puts both of our accomplishments in perspective, doesn't it?

The commonwealth of Kentucky and the state of Alabama and their favorite sports are different in another way.

On Monday night, Louisville, led by an old Kentucky coach, won the NCAA Tournament. On Tuesday morning, current UK coach John Calipari threw roses at the Cardinals on Twitter.

"Congrats to Louisville," Calipari tweeted. "They had a wonderful year from start to finish, which is really difficult to do. For us, next season begins today."

Say what?

Can you imagine Gene Chizik or Gus Malzahn publically patting Alabama on the back after the Tide took down Texas, LSU or Notre Dame? Did Nick Saban compliment Auburn the morning after the Tigers roasted Oregon?

Is anyone at Louisville afraid that someone with too much Kentucky in him will be so addled by the Cards' title that he might go Updyke somewhere on the U of L campus?

No, no and of course not.

Right now, there's no question that the commonwealth of Kentucky does basketball better than anyone. Almost as well as the state of Alabama does football.